The Turning of the Wheel of Dharma
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“The Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma”
The history of Hinduism and Buddhism bought many new aspects in their
religious life and knowledge. With the diversity and divisions their culture survived over
two thousand years of culture heritage, social organization and religious worldviews. In
this essay you will read about the knowledge of the Hindu and Buddha and how it came
about.
We start with the Upanishadic Worldview which bought two emphases which is knowledge over ritual and on immortality in terms of escape from existence itself. “From the unreal lead me to the realÐFrom death lead me to immortality” This was a sentence from a prayer of an Upanishadic thinker which points out about the nature of things and the quest for ultimate truth. Knowledge has become the ultimate source of power. Immortality after death reflects a new concern of life escaping from existence in any form.
As the quest for knowledge continues the Upanishadic focused on the nature of individual self and its relationship to ultimate reality, known as atman-braham. The gods are now part of the scheme of things and subject to this existence. Atman-braham is recognizing as a principle of reality itself which includes the unborn, unmade, and unchanging infinite. It is also focused on the nature of normal existence, which causes changes i.e. the physical world, our bodies, and personalities. Brahman is the only eternal and unchanging. This already is showing us a marked tendency toward the Buddhist emphasis on impermanence and suffering as facts of existence.
Life after death a new understanding of immortality relates to the Upanishadic perception about self and the world of existence. They believe that life is a cycle, a never ending alternation between life and death. This idea became the basic assumption of all Indian thought and religious life. Samsara as this is called. They believe that the action of the mind or body has continuous effects in existence. That good deed bring good results, rebirth in a heaven or as a god and evil ones bring evil consequences. The samsara bought many problems in the Indian tradition so in order to resolve it the Indians developed two solutions. The first involves strategy of maximizing good actions and minimizing bad actions to achieve the best possible rebirth in the next round of existence. Second the solution seeks “liberation” which is called moksha from existence, escaping all karmic effects by escaping actions itself.
We now go into Social Responsibility of the Indian religiousness known as life according to dharma. Dharma means the right order of things, right conduct, and right duty. It includes the right conduct of political, commercial, social/religious affairs and individual moral responsibility. Dharma is the life moral action that will lead to a better birth in the next round of existence.
According to dharma life has several implications.
It accepts action in the world of samsara as necessary and legitimate.
It demands acceptance of the responsibilities appropriate to ones sex, class, and caste group, stage in life and other circumstances.
It allows for legitimate self-interest; ones duty is to do things that acquire merit for ones eternal atman and to avoid those that bring evil consequences.
Rebirth in heaven, in paradise, is the highest goal attainable through life of dharma.
All achievement in the world of dharma, even the attainment of heaven, is ultimately